Ramblings of a KL-ite on digital stuff, everyday life, growing old and some wishful thinking.
Friday, November 14, 2003
Nokia 6600 - MMS No Go
There are lots of new phones in the market and if you are set on the new Nokia 6600 or even 6220, you will be shocked to find out that you wont be able to send MMS with it. Its not the phone's fault but our networks. It seems that no mobile network in Malaysia supports the TCP/IP protocol over GPRS which these newer phones uses. Well just to let you guys know....beware.
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the Swiss hold the America cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance and Germany doesn't want to go to war"
These days our Immigration Dept is really high-tech. Yes, we were first in the World to use chip-based passports and now they even have those tiny little thumb scanners to scan and read your thumbprints. Their computer can match your prints to their database in a matter of seconds. BUT....oh yes, there is a "BUT"....lol. Have you taken a look at your photo in your passport? The picture look like crap, to say the least, and much like it's printed with a dot matrix printer. Somehow they also enlarge the pictures a bit which makes it look like you are bloated or something. Can't they use a nice color photo printer for crying out loud? Sheessh....you think for a RM$300 passport, your picture can at least look decent but No....*sigh*. Nothing is perfect I guess.
Forgive me Blogger, it has been one month since my last confession blogging : ))
Panasonic SD to CF Card Adapters (A paid for advertisment)
You know how most PDAs, digicams, MP3 players, videocams, etc uses SD cards these days? But there are still loads of digital cameras (namely Nikon & Canon) still using CF cards. What you need is an adapter that converts your SD card into a CF size package. You may be able to find some of these adapters on the Net but none of them allows the SD card to be fully inserted into those adapters, thereby you can't close the card's chamber door of your camera.
But now I've got an answer to your problem. This here is the new Panasonic Secure Digital to Compact Flash adapter that will do just what you want - simply turn your SD into CF size (Type I) cards. You can now use your SD cards in your CF enabled camera, take a picture and immediately view them in your SD enabled PDA, projector, etc. This also means you can use your SD cards with more devices without having to buy additional different formats.You can also use this adapter in conjunction with a CF to PCMCIA adapter so that now your laptop can use SD cards as well.
This is Nokia's new wired wireless headset Huh? Say that again...
I don't get it. Why would I want a Bluetooth wireless headset with a wire?
On another matter, I'm sure most of you have read yesterday's InTech article on TV Smith's Dua Sen website. If you have not, please do yourself a favor and go over to his site and give it a read. I just love his Uncle Ho's series. Don't you?
Eh...that's mo-blogging ok, not mob-logging...LOL. Stands for mobile blogging. That's right, you can now blog straight from your phone or PDA. How cool is that! Definitely for the addicted blogger. Get the software here - Kablog.
It works with Palm PDAs running PalmOS v3.5 or higher. Hey, what?!? No Pocket PC version? And it will work with Symbian OS devices like Nokia 3650, SE P800 and of course the new Nokia 6600. There you go, another good reason to get a Symbian OS device.
Just when I've given up hope on Nokia, they came up with something pretty interesting. Yes, it's a new phone - what else? The new 6600 based on the Series 60 platform (second edition), this thing has a VGA camera that will do videos and still pictures. Yes, it comes with a 2x digital zoom. One very important feature - it will accept SD/MMC cards for memory expansion. Now go read the rest of it and tell me if it is any good.
K.L. is at a standstill today from the flash floods that happened in the afternoon. The roads are still packed with jammed cars even until 10pm. Hundreds of vehicles has been reported to be flooded right to the roof tops. LRTs stopped their services and thousands of commuters stranded. How many time this has to happen before the authorities do something? Instead they waste energy and resources on other less important issues. Maybe the rakyat voice, needs and suffering is less important and less urgent than, lets say, the demands of the big U.S. corporations. When will they actually tackle real problems instead of playing a cat and mouse game.
Somehow I can never understand the mentality of the pakciks that runs our government. If there is a rise in rape cases, surely it must the porn VCDs fault. If there is a rise in murders, maybe we should ban knifes and any sharp objects as well. If only they use the same logic for floods, if it floods, then build bigger and better drainage. If it floods, they should clear all the rubbish from the rivers and enforce strict rules on dumping. Nope, instead they spend thousands of the rakyat's tax dollars on some stupid electronic warning board to tell you, "yeah sucker, your car is now floating down the river". Duh!
I usually do not like to talk about things that I am planning to do or get. I always fear that I would jinx myself and my plans would not come true once I talk about them before it happens. Call me superstitious, but this has happened to me many times so I'm cautious. But I didn't realized that with this darn blog thing, I had jinx myself, not once but twice.
Yup, so I am still harping over the SE T610 and Nikon SQ issues. Well I want to say this one word - SEE!
That's it fellas, no more talking about things until they had become reality. No more Vulcan mind melds either....oops...did I think that out loud? OK, that's for a different episode.
You heard me raved about the new Sony Ericsson T610 camera phone and you heard me raved about Nikon's new digital camera (Coolpix SQ) and both turned out to have some major disappointment.
The T610 had a hiss problem (which will be fix by week 23 according to SE support), weak vibrations, and has a fixed ascending tones setup. The Nikon SQ has been reported to have extremely high noice in it's pictures.
When will they ever build a nice little perfect gadget? NEVER!
Three years ago, while window shopping for digital cameras, I came upon the Sony DSC-F505. My first thoughts were, "Gawd...this thing is so huge and I would never want to own one". After a few trips, standing outside the shop's front window, I have to admit I was intrigued by the radical design so I decided to go in for a better look. The rest, as they say, is history.
The moment I had the F505 in my hands, I immediately realized it's potential First of all, it felt very natural. Cradling the lens barrel with my left hand, my right hand was used twisting the camera's body to which ever angle I wanted. I no longer had to bring the camera to my face. I can hold the camera at waist height, ending the need to kneel down for a lower angle shot. I can shoot overhead. You name it, it all can be done with ease. I cannot articulate enough for you to fully understand it's usefulness until you yourself have tried it.
The F505 has already long been discontinued and replaced by 3 more generations of this genre, namely the F505V, F707 and the current F717. The F505 was my "most wanted" digicam those days. The thing that stopped me was the size and the price. I could never see myself lugging that thing around. It's just too huge and awkward. I had my fair share of carrying heavy SLRs before so no thank you.
Since that day, I had been looking around for other cameras that has swivel lens designs. Infact Nikon came out with a swivel lens design before Sony did. They had a range of widely successful Coolpix 990 series but they too were pretty big in size so they were not for me.
Today, my needs and wants has been answered with a new Nikon Coolpix SQ (square). It has a swivel lens design and is not much bigger than my Minolta X. Take a look at the comparison photo.
Here take a look at how the lens swivels. Could this be the one ?
Pocket PCs has grown by leaps and bounds since it's birth back in April 2000. Today there are so many Pocket PC enabled PDAs around that you are spoilt for choice.
For me, I had hardly look at another Pocket PC since I first bought my Casio EM-500. Not that my Casio is any good but that my needs and desire for using a PDA has pretty much subsided to, ahem...let's say "normal" levels. But lately, due to outside influence, or should I say "inlaw influence", I did look. And what did I see? I saw a tiny and very pocketable iPAQ h1910. It was an amazement at first sight. You've got to see it to believe it. This should have been the first Pocket PC to be release back in April 2000. Why? That way those Palm fanboys cannot laugh at us brick-carrying fools ma. And after 2.5 years of this brick, I can tell you this - size does matters and in this case, the smaller the better.
Anyway, before you and I get too excited over the h1910, there are already news that better things has yet to come. In a couple of months time, there will be 5 more h19xx models on it's way. They support SDIO and yes one of them even have Bluetooth builtin. Now if only they can fit in a little GSM/GPRS circuit....wouldn't that be great? Mmmm...some day!
A few days back, I wrote that I lost my phone and camera but the truth is that it was just a ploy to give me an excuse to replace them with newer and cooler stuff. Unfortunately it didn't work quite well as nobody seems to believe or much less care in the first place. One did make a good suggestion though to get a cameraphone - I say thank you to her.
And to the rest of you that said nothing - you're no fun at all!
Actually I've been following the news about the SE T610 on it's hiss problem for a couple of weeks now and lately this has been confirmed by several websites as well. It seems that the first batch of T610 in Malaysia, has this problem as well and it needs a hardware fix. So if you are considering this phone, you should hold on and wait for the second or third batch to come in.
The other day, I forgot to tell you a few more quirks that the T610 has so I will do it here. The ring tone is fixed at "ascending" setting which is really weird. Yes, it only goes from soft to loud, and you cannot set it to just "ringing" as in Nokia phones. I feel that this defeat the purpose of cool ring tones, don't you think? We all want to hear the beginning of the sound, which in this case, you won't until it gets louder. You may even miss a few calls because of this. This one I dun like. Why can't Sony Ericsson gives us a choice?
The other thing is that it doesn't have the speakerphone feature as found in most newer Nokias. I like this feature a lot so I will miss it.
Hmmm...maybe I should wait until Christmas to get this thing. Maybe by then a new T610i would emerge?
I had barely a couple of minutes to play with it at a dealer in Low Yat. The salesgirl, pretty one I might add, was playing with it more than myself as she was figuring out how to turn on the sound. Anyway I SMS a lot so the first thing I tried was to SMS someone. Let's say I couldn't do it as fast as my 8210. Then again this is a new phone with new buttons placements (eg. the space key is not 0 but #) so obviously I couldn't do it speedily like I can with my 8210. Infact even when I SMS using a Nokia 7210, I couldn't do it as fast so I guess it's a matter of getting use to.
My first impression is that the brushed aluminium casing looks a bit raw...like unfinished. I wish it has a bit more texture to it. This phone reminds me of my old Nokia 2110. It has a big black face plate that can easily gets scratched and dirty with grease marks. It took what seems like ages for the phone to "boot" up when you first turn this thing on. The hour glass icon is there and I was surprised that no one yet mention how long this thing takes. Ok, I think I can live with that since I don't turn off my phones anyway. Another thing that caught my eye was that the camera lens is a little recessed in and not flush with the casing. This only means that dirt and lint will definitely gather inside the little hole. And you won't be able to clean it out easily since the hole is pretty tiny, but enough for maybe one Q-tip (cottonbuds to some of you) to enter. A camera lens blower will also come into good use here.
For those still hanging on to their Nokias, I say give this a try. Click here take a look at some photo comparisons between T610, 7250, 6100, and 6610.
The price? RM1600. Not a bad price considering this phone has bluetooth and a camera. Nokia's 7250 was launched at around RM2200+ if I can remember correctly. But knowing that phone prices drop like crazy (and usually immediately after I make any purchase), I will have to wait it out no matter how agonizing it's gonna be. One thing though attracting me is the contest to win a Honda Jazz with any purchase from now till June 30th 2003. Can win Jazz wor? How? Hmmm....*dreaming*
Ok I got to stop reading about T610, stop thinking about it, it does not exist. *sigh*
I am getting very frustrated here. Blogger seems to be having some problems these few days and I can't change my template, and sometimes can't post. Anyone else experiencing the same problems? I need to move out !!!
Blatant Advertising (to be read pasar malam style)....
Come ah, come ah, mari-mari...gather around. See no buy also can. Today's special offer - one unit brand new Sony Infrared Headphones for cheap sale. Unit still unopened. Can connect to TeeV, steleo, poketpc, brand new Zire 71, PC, Xbox, PS2, MP3 player, airpod, mini-Disc etc, etc and listen-in all without wires.
This one no need WiFi, no need Bluetooth....ah very simple one. Just plug in only and listen to your pirated favolite music all without tangled mess. Goes very well with racing games, hear the roaring of your engine, makes you feel that the engine is right behind you like those F1 cars....ah don't try don't know, very terror one the sound.
Now how much would you pay for something like that? RM500?... RM400?... RM300? No, no...very cheap only. Today, for you only, my loyal blog readers, the price is a mere RM200. That's right no need to think one, just grab only. Payday also coming in a few days - don't worry. First come first serve as this is the last available unit. Very laku-oh, all taken already except this last one. Buy now you gain, people buy you regret.
Email me for info if you wanna ask questions. Answers free one, no need money so dun scare to ask ok.
Congratulations to Albert for getting a brand new Zire 71...
Here, check out the details of this his baby -
1. Built-in Hidden Camera Point and shoot for instant digital pictures. One slide reveals the camera.
2. High-Resolution Display Experience games and video clips in vibrant color on our new ultra-sharp screen.
3. Stereo Headphone Jack Plug in headphones to listen to audio files and MP3s.
Headphones not included. Expansion card required, sold separately.
4. Date Book Button One-touch access to your calendar.
5. Address Book Button Holds thousands of names, numbers and email addresses.
6. 5-Way Navigator Push up, down, left, right and center to select. Designed for one-handed navigation.
7. Photos Button Easy access to your digital albums.
8. Note Pad Button Jot down your bright ideas - right on the handheld screen.
9. Palm Expansion Slot Store files, snapshots, MP3s, software, e-books and more on MultiMediaCard/SD cards.
Expansion cards sold separately.
10. Palm Universal Connector Snap on a keyboard, battery charger or other peripherals. Peripherals sold separately.
11. Infrared Port "Beam" notes and files to other Palm handhelds.
12. Writing Area Enter data quickly using your stylus and Graffiti® 2 writing software.
*sorry William, I've failed to pull him to the Dark Side*
Almost everyone carries a digital camera these days and with new and more advanced models coming out every few months, with even cheaper prices, I think the days of the 35mm film will slowly but surely comes to an end. And if you are one of those shopping for your first digital camera, I hope I can help you to make a wise choice.
1. How many megapixels is enough? Contrary to common beliefs that the more pixels the better. In a way, this is not true. More pixels don't make your pictures sharper or "better". What it is really referring to is the size of the picture. For example, if the effective pixels is quoted as 3 megapixels, what this means is that you will get a picture size of approximately 2016 pixels x 1512 pixels. If you view this picture using your monitor, you will most likely have to scroll both vertically and horizontally to view the entire picture. A 17 inch CRT monitor is very likely to be set to a resolution of only 1024 x 768 so thats why you will need to scroll.
So what does it all means? I won't go into too much detail here as it is beyond the scope of this blog, but the number of pixels only comes into play during printing. The more pixels your camera is capable of, the bigger the print you can make, without losing too much resolution. A 3 megapixel camera is more than enough to give a good 8 x10 inch print. If you do not need to make prints larger than 8 x 10, and most of us don't, a 2 - 3 megapixels camera is more than enough. If you are like me, that don't print that often, a 2 megapixel camera is plenty.
Another thing I like to warn you about is that some manufacturers (namely Fuji) claimed their cameras to be 6 or 10 gazillion pixels, this is done through interpolation (something like digital zoom) and does not reflects the true size of their CCD sensor. When you read the specs of a certain camera, look for the "effective pixels".
Summary - Prices are so low these days that you can get a good branded 3 megapixels camera for as low as RM1100. This would be a good entry point for most of you out there. There is no need to go for higher pixels if you do not need to print larger than 8x10.
2. Lens Make sure the camera has at least a 3x optical zoom. I want to stress it is optical zoom and not total combine zoom or digital zoom. Most of the time, manufacturers likes to advertise the larger number to catch your attention, claiming a 12x zoom or something, but this is most likely to be the total combine zoom of the optical lens and digital zoom.
Some cameras has a fixed lens and are not much use. 3x optical zoom lens are pretty standard in today's lens technology so settle for nothing less than that.
3. ISO sensitivity This is probably one of those things that most will overlook when shopping for a digital camera. Traditional film has ISO (ASA) ratings and this represents the sensitivity of the film that you are using. The higher the number, the less light it needs, or faster the film, and the more blurry the pictures becomes.
Digital cameras has ISO sensitivity as well but it's range is confine to that particular model. Example, one camera has a ISO sensitivity setting of Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400. What this means is that it can automatically set it's own sensitivitity and also allows you to manually set it to 50, 100, 200, or 400. Some cameras has a smaller range of settings, eg. Auto 100-200, that means it can only go from a lowest 100 to the highest of 200. Remember, unlike conventional films where you can choose the ISO sensitivity, you are pretty much stuck with your camera's ISO setting, so buy one with the widest range.
Remember also that I said that the higher the ISO number, the more blurry it gets on films? The same is true for digital cameras, in this case, we get more noise (not the kind you hear-lah).
Summary - get one with at least ISO 400 that way it help out in low light situation.
4. Memory Cards Memory cards are the "film" of digital cameras, if you will. Let me give you a quick run down on what is available.
* Compact Flash or CF - this is by far the most common type of cards out there. Since it is widely popular and available, it is the least expensive. You can find a 512MB card for around RM430. On the bad side, this is an old technology and it is slow. Form factor is also big. Manufacturers that uses this format - Nikon and Canon.
* Smartmedia - this is another "old" card that only Olympus and Fuji uses. Again it is big and slow. I would not recommend you to get a camera that still uses Smartmedia. Infact Fuji and Olympus are slowly moving on to a smaller form factor (and faster) - the new xD picture card as seen in some of their latest models.
* Secure Digital/ Multimedia Card or SD/MMC - When this came out, people will sceptical about it's acceptance. Infact when I bought my Casio EM500 pocketpc (this was like the first device that uses this card at that time), people was questioning why Casio did not use CF cards instead. Now, a short two years later, this form factor has been widely adopted by almost all PDA makers and a good majority of digital cameras and camcorders. So this is the form factor to bet on.
* Memory Sticks - This is probably the most expensive of the lot and it's use confined to Sony's products. Their capacity has risen lately up to one gigabyte!
Summary - so which to choose? Well I like to say it doesn't matter. Just choose the camera, not the card that it uses because no matter which card it uses, I am sure it will still be supported for quite sometime.
5. Timing This is another important factor that most will overlook. Digital cameras has what they called a "shutter lag". This is the time delay from when you fully depress the shutter-release button to when the photo is actually taken, unlike conventional film camera which is almost instantaneous. The shorter the lag time, the better. One thing though, most manufacturers do not publish their lag time so read camera reviews to determine this.
Another timing factor to consider is the "startup time". This is the time when you press the "on" button to the time you can actually take a picture. The faster this is, the better so that you don't have to miss any shots.
6. Batteries Digital cameras eats batteries like crazy so buy a spare if you can afford one. Most cameras uses Lithium Ion batteries and this is the battery of choice. Some cameras uses conventional AA size batteries and at first thought seems like a good idea since you can buy these almost anywhere but AA size batteries don't last long and in the end, cost too much. Even if you buy rechargeable AAs, they still don't last as long.
7. Size Size does matters. And in this case, smaller may be better. No matter how good a camera is, it's not much of a use if it's sitting in a cupboard somewhere because it is too big to take along with you on a daily basis. You need to have a different mind-set for digicams, unlike conventional film cameras, you need not buy film for digicams and because of that, you are pretty much free to shoot anything, anytime, anywhere. That's why you want to have your camera with you all the time. What size should a camera be depends on what you are willing to carry around.
One thing though, smaller cameras has it's tradeoffs. There will be compromises on some features. That's why maybe we should have two cameras, one to be taken with you all the time and another, for a more planned and serious work.
8. Metering The metering in a digital camera is the system which measures the amount of light and calculates the best exposure for that particular shot. The different methods are Center-Weighted, Spot and Multi-segment/Matrix/Evaluative metering.
If your camera has only Center-Weighted metering, it means that the camera uses the center part (when view from the viewfinder or LCD display) to detemine exposure. If your subject is off center, you would need to frame your subject in the center, half-depressed your shutter button to lock the exposure setting, then re-frame your subject again to get the proper exposure of your subject. With multi-segment metering, you need not do this as the correct readings are taken from a matrix of metering zones instead of just the center.
Summary - The minimum is center-weighted. If it has multi-segment metering, so much the better.
9. Movies Most digicams these days can capture some forms of movie clips. Two things you need to look out for - sound and length of the clip. Some digicams will allow you to capture both sound and video, while others, only video.
The other thing is length of the video clip. More advanced cameras allows the length of the video clip to be dependent on the amount of memory you have left which means you can shoot a video as long as your card has enough space. But most cameras has a fixed length of time for each clip from 45 seconds to maybe 3 minutes. Different cameras will have it's own preset time so look out for this.
10. Manual mode The majority of digicams are fully automatic. They calculate exposure, flash, focus, etc all automatically. While this is a good thing for most beginners, they will have no manual control over aperture and shutter speed. At some point you may need some manual override for a more creative control over your picture taking. Unfortunately manual controls only exist for more expensive higher-end cameras. This is something to look into if you are a serious photographer.
Well there you go. I have one parting thought for you - good cameras don't make good pictures, only the person behind the camera can do that and someone skill in Photoshop.
Do you know that men and women are very different when it comes to shopping for stuff? Like example, for men, they alway wants to know if other people, especially other men, are carrying that same new PDA or phone that they themselves are eyeing. Somehow knowing that other men are carrying the same gadget makes it a safer buy or something. And the more people carry or uses that item, the better. Proven-ma. You will usually hear this from males...."waaa...I saw so and so driving the new City wor....very nice, very good, must buy", or "the new Motorola phone no good-ler, never see anyone use also". Men will even go to the extent to make sure that other men will have the same thing that they are buying - "come-ler, we buy together...."
Women, on the other hand, on seeing someone else with the same object of desire, is a total turn-off. It just will not do to know if another person, and especially another woman, is having the same thing. God forbid if it is something like an article of clothing. You will never see both women wearing it ever again especially if both women are in the same circle. When a women shops, the first thing on her mind would be to mentally recall if any of her friends or colleagues have the same thing. And oh yes, women's recollection of such things are very good. They can remember every pattern and color of all their friends clothes so as not to "chong-pan". For us men, we can hardly remember what we wore yesterday, much less remember what other men are wearing.
Talking about Tech TV, I wonder why I never seems to be able to catch the "Call For Help" segment these days? Not only is Chris Pirillo gone but they have reduce the number of shows as well? Previously, I get to watched it on several times slots but now it's a different story. Infact I think the ScreenSavers come on more now. Not only have they got rid of Chris, they might be trying to dump the whole show as well. Or has Astro reduced or changed the programming? Are they pissed too that Chris is gone? : )
Since only recently that I began watching TechTV, I started with Chris on "Call For Help", so obviously I like him better than Leo. I think he knows more stuff than Leo as well. Only last week, I caught Leo stumbled on a question about not being able to save pictures files as jpeg, but only as bitmap. He didn't know the right answer. I also think he tries too hard with his antics, trying to be like Chris. He is more subdued in the ScreenSavers.
Whoever the host, I just wish I can catch it daily....I want my TechTV (and "Wired for Sex")
I have been wanting one of these for a long time now but high prices and my own indecisiveness on which model to get, delayed my purchase until now.
Since I happily owned a Samsung CRT, obviously I looked at the Samsungs which imo is most aggressive in pushing LCD monitors (and in everything else they make as well). From their 151x series to their latest 152x, still I could not make up my mind. Their specs always seems the best but everytime I looked at a Samsung LCD monitor, the text seems blurred to me. So no matter how much I wanted a Samsung LCD, I couldn't bring myself to actually buy one.
Then my dealer recommended Philips. The text looks sharp and I like that it has a black casing unlike the silver ones from Samsung. Since LCD screens are black, the black casing would make it look like one big seemless screen. But I didn't like the specs and I didn't like the fact that not many dealers sells these. Fearing that I could be buying into an unsupported piece of hardware, I quickly dismissed the Philips. Of course, this may not be true, just that I felt that way.
Then I look at the Sony's S51 and M51. I like the sharp text and the black casing on the Sony as well but, like the Philips, the Sony's specs was not as impressive as compared to the Samsung's. They were also more expensive. I was also worried about Sony's service since I had a bad brush with them before and swore never to buy another Sony product.
Then one day, I finally decided on this one - the new Sony SDM-HS53/W. I saw this LCD monitor at Sony Wings KLCC and immediately took a liking to it. It has a white casing (much like an Apple iBook) with a silver stand. The back panel is white in color as well. It simply looks luxurious. When I inquire about the price, I was shocked (in a pleasant way) and immediately knew that this is the one to get, brushing away all previous unpleasantries.
The cost - RM1330 for this 15 incher and since I pre-ordered it before their launch date, I was given a free pair of IR headphones which cost around RM248 retail. How's that? I do wish I could afford the 17 inch instead but at a cost of a whopping RM2188, my dreams quickly died, albeit reluctantly. If it would cost around RM1800, I would have jump at it.
This Sony does not have a DVI input unlike the Samsung 152T costing less but what the heck, I just love the sharpness and the design of this thing. Here take a look at the front and tell me if this is not the best looking LCD monitor out there?
In the future, I hope that a 17 inch widescreen version with DVI inputs will surface. But at what cost? For now, I can dream...
p.s. I like to add that just after I bought this thing, I took another look at a Samsung, and this time they all look sharp to me. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or is it my head?
The price of a simple hair cut is so ridiculous these days. Can you imagine having to pay RM45-RM55 just for a 15-20 minute job? And on top of that you still have to pay another RM15 for the shampoo and blow-dry! I think it's time we should price control this cut-hair throat business. And the job is never satisfaction guaranteed.
I think hairdressers make more money than your ordinary GP doctor. Why go to 8 years of medical school when you can take a 8 months course in hairdressing, a lot easier and much more profitable in the end.
Ok, for some of you out there, I know the SE T610 is not going to be enough to wet your appetite. You want more, you want one that will play MP3, you want expansion memory cards, you want a more terror-looking phone, you want the works-lah. Look no further, here is a PDA/Phone combo for you.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is the new Siemens SX1 . This phone is based on the Nokia Series 60 Interface, and like all Series 60 devices (Nokia 3650, 7650), it runs on the Symbian OS. It's jam packed with features, you name it, it has it, period and with looks to kill.
Here is the run down - triband, GPRS, WAP, Bluetooth. MMS, EMS, SMS, and POP3/IMAP Email . TFT Display with 176 x 220 pixels at 65K colors ! Built-in Camera, loudspeaker phone (oh yes I like this), video player, voice memos, voice commands, voice dialing. MP3 and FM radio. Supports Java. Can take those SD/MMC memory cards. And all these in a compact 99cc (volume) weighing only 110 grams. Damn I almost ran out of breath there...phew.
What!??? You want more? Not radical enough you say? Then take a look at these other Siemens - the Xelibri range. I only have one problem - so many phones so little money...*sigh*
Almost everyone I know has already gone thru like half a dozen handphones or even more. For the past 7 years now, I have had two phones and I am currently still using one of them. So you see I have lots of catching up to do. Most of the time, the life of a phone will usually out-last your interest and you will start eyeing another model long before it needs to be change. And now it's just about that time for me....hehe.
Ok, so I've been looking for another phone since last year. I have the pleasure of using two Nokias in the past and the obvious choice was to look for another Nokia. I waited for the 7210, it came, saw and I bought one for my wife instead. Look at the 66xx series. No sparks. Then the 7650, still no feelings. I waited for the 7250 and when it finally came out, it wasn't what I wanted either. I think I got rather bored with Nokia's design. I'm tired of the funny positioning of their keys. I'm tired of the plastic covers which was a great idea but they were expensive and the pasar-malam ones just don't fit too well.
So I had to look elsewhere. The Sony Ericsson phones has been improving quite a lot lately and I have been keeping an eye on them. But I was sceptical. I have never like both the Sony and Ericsson brand names on their own and I wasn't sure if I can make the change to a non-Nokia phone since I'm so used to the system now. But if I were to ever get a new phone this year, I think I have to change my mind-set.
I looked at the Sony Ericsson P800 and was very impressed by it. But it still wasn't for me. I've been asking myself if I really need the PDA functions and the conclusion is that I rather have a smaller phone with newer features than a real full blown PDA phone combo thingy. Anyway, I only use my phone for SMS and voice calls so I really don't need and don't want to carry around something too bulky which I won't use most of the time. So what shall I get?
I think I have found my next phone. Of course, I won't know for sure until I see and touch it. It's the upcoming Sony Ericsson T610. Let me give you the run down of this phone - it is a tri-band phone with a 65k color display with a graphical icon based desktop. The screen is 128 x 160 pixel which is pretty large for a phone this size. Btw this phone is just slightly bigger than my 8210.
The first thing that caught my eye when I saw some pictures of the T610 was how clean the design was. Almost Zen like. What can I say, it looks like a damn phone for once. No funny looking buttons or shapes here, infact it look rather bland and boxy even. Somehow I love it. It's so minimalist as compared to the design of other phones lately. And it has a touch of class as the T610 body is clad with an aluminium casing. Hmmm... can't wait to touch that. Btw the sides of the phone are concave for better hold. Now that's a nice touch and adds to the appealing design. And for the first time, we know the name of the designer - Erik Ahlgren.
What else? Yes, it has GPRS, WAP, and Bluetooth. Yes, it can work those Java applications, and yes it has a built-in camera! It has SMS/EMS/MMS/e-mail messaging support. Now are you sold? And to add icing to the cake, it has polyphonic sounds with 32 voices (yes 32!). And on top of that you can even compose your own ring tones. What's the big deal? Well, composers are usually found on those old monophonic phones (er...like mine) but this must be a first for a polyphonic phone. One more thing I like to add, you can download more ring tones at Sony Ericsson's website for free - unlike Nokia, which charges you. I think this will be my fav feature of them all as I love those cool polyphonic sounds.
Of course, some games are included and you can download more as they come along. I'm not a big fan of phone based games so let's move on. What else leh? Oh, it does has some PIM functions, you know, the usual calender, calculator, etc, etc. It has voice dialling and voice command but no speakerphone, which I admit, is a great feature on the Nokia's 72xx. As you can see in the pic, it also has a little joystick to mouse around.
Hopefully this thing will be here sometime in May and I do hope it cost around RM1.5k to RM1.7, not over RM2K please? So what do you think? Is this phone hot or not? Hmmm... which color should I get-leh...?
Cant decide? Download the PDF manual to give it a full read or play around with the phone here.
These days you will find PDAs with loads of features. Some comes with integrated cameras, some can play MP3, others have built-in phone for GSM/GPRS connectivity. Some devices comes with Bluetooth and the latest ones even have Wi-Fi. But there is none that incorporates all them features into one device. And that is what we all want even though most of us would not use all the capabilities or even understand most of the technology, for that matter.
There is always something missing from your favorite gadget, isn't it? I think that the technology is there to make this a possibility but manufacturers just like to make our lives harder and poorer by offering different things with different features and hoping that we will buy them all. There will never be an "ultimate" anything. No, that would be too easy and much less profitable. So what we have is a bunch of little devices that have some of the features you want but not all. Until now......maybe.
Texas Instrument came out with a concept PDA code-named "WANDA" for Wireless Any Network Digital Assistant, this baby has GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, all built into one kewl looking PDA and it will run on the Pocket PC Phone Edition. But before you get too excited, this thing is only a concept PDA for now and TI won't be making these themselves but will offer the design and chipset to other manufacturers. So in another words, it won't be here by this Christmas. *sniff*
Oh and one more thing, remember I told you that they always leave something out? Aiyah...no camera-lah....*sigh*....
Yesterday my Streamyx ADSL went down again. I had it for like 3 months now and it seems to me that it has already went down for a good dozen times at least. OK I won't go into my TM Net bashing mode here. Actually they have been pretty good at responding to calls. At least they got back to me within 24 hours. But fixing the problem is another matter altogether. They came this morning, brought one of their test modem but couldn't get their own modem to sync up. Anyway they are suppose to come back again. While waiting for that to happen, now my phone line is dead as well. I hope they are just taking it off to test my line. I must say that Telekom's technician are not that proficient. Most of them do not know what they are doing. I remember the first guy that came and to "install" my ADSL service, he didn't know how to do it since mine is a USB modem and he is only familiar with those Ethernet kind. Anyway, thats over with and I've being pretty happy with Streamyx while it works. That's the catch - while it works.
You know how I can't function when my Net connection is down. This is one of those moments again when I can't wait to get back online. Even though I don't have any urgent things to do, the thought that I am not online is frustrating. While I wait, let me try to write some stuff to post later.
I only started blogging like a week or two ago. Before I started, I really didn't know what was involved. I was given the impression that Blogger will pretty much take care of everything. Not true. It says you do not need to know HTML - again not true. Actually Blogger does nothing but give you some space, a template or two to choose from, and a very very basic editor (if you can call it that). Editing from this web-based Editor is a pain. You can't really see what you are doing. And that's just the main content. The rest of the stuff you see on the right-hand column is part of the template and editing that is a bigger pain because you need to upload before you can see your work.
Since I do not know HTML, everything is a pain. Luckily for me, I have a great HTML Editor - Dreamweaver and that prog really helped me to put everything together. At least I can do a preview what what I was trying to achieve. Still it was troublesome. I have to maintain the template and my actual blogs separately. I had to cut and paste the codes to Blogger. Being a newbie that I am, this was difficult. Recently, I found a Blog Editior called W.Bloggar. This thing works great. I can edit my template or my post and upload the new editions to my blog without having to go thru the Blogger website. I can see previews and there are enough tools there to get you along unlike Blogger's which has almost no tools. Maybe just a Bold, Italics and Add Link function.
So that is what I'm using now - W.Bloggar. Once in awhile I still go back to Dreamweaver which I'm more familiar with.
Hey! Guess what? My ADSL is back again !!! Yippee!!! So ok-lah, they fixed it in less than 24 hours. I am happy again!
The Palm Tungsten W is finally here at local stores and I was trying to get the feel of one today. If you notice, I like to hold and touch a new gadget to get a feel of it to see if it's for me or not. Not only has it got to be functional but the aesthetics matters a great deal to me as well. Anyway, the first store I visited, some other customer was looking at the Tungsten W and after like half an hour of waiting for my turn, he was still at it. Grrr...just buy the damn thing already and let me have a go! In the end, I gave up.
The nite later, I was at another mall and came upon another shop selling the W. And I got lucky this time, or so I think. I got the Tungsten W in my hands in no time and the salesperson was explaining what the thing can do...blah...blah ....blah ....as if I don't know already....and I wasn't really listening to him anyway. I just wanted the damn thing in my hands, is that so hard? When I finally got it in my hands - my first thoughts were "this thing is quite heavy, and thick". Turned it on and I remember it was side lit, just like some of the pocket pc these days. The graphics was no where near half as good as the Sony's Clie, which by far is the best looking Palm based PDA IMHO. Anyway before I could take a second look, the damn thing was out of my hands, into another customer. I can't fucking believe it (oh can i say the "f" word here?). I only had it in my hands for no more than 20 seconds. How rude! And I waited again........duh! I finally gave up. Maybe, to the saleperson, I just didn't look like the buying type...well whatever. I was out of there.
So no reviews - sorry. One thing I did learned - you need to plug in the hands-free earpiece to use the phone function unlike the O2 XDA. There's no speakerphone and you can't put this to your ear. No Bluetooth here either so you can't cut the umbilical cord. That's all I can tell you for now. Oh and if you are wondering there ever be a Clie Phone...the answer given to me by Sony ppl is NO. They will only release phones under the Sony Ericsson badge. Aiyah...too bad don't you think? It would be really cool to see a Clie with phone/camera/mp3/everything.
If you are deprived like I am, here is a picture for you.
OK, maybe I didn't look like a million bucks and I didn't look like a buying "Palm person" but I did bought something tonite...whoohoo....I just splurged thirteen hundred ringgit on a new LCD monitor. I can't tell you what it is for now because well I don't have it yet. It is a newly released model, not even in stock and I don't wanna say anything until I really get it. It's on pre-order only and I will only get it hopefully by next week. The moment I get it all hook up, I will let you know all about it. Can't wait.
Nissan Tino....
This dashboard is so beautiful. I wish I have a bigger picture to put on here. The automatic gear shift is located at the steering column leaving an empty space on the floor for you to easily scoop to the passenger side and vice versa.
For some reason, the exterior of the Tino did not keep up with it's interior. Here take a look. Rather ordinary looking, isn't it? But check out the price. Are you sitting down? Goes for around RM200K. It's a 1.8 I think.
Nissan was showing off their new cars at Mid Valley and probably the only one priced close to Earth was the Liberty, a MPV, priced around 140K
During the Nokia roadshow, I had the opportunity to touch and handle the new Nokia Bluetooth headset HDW-2. It was going for a "promotional price" of RM599. Kinda look like a bug don't it? Or maybe even a big gold earring? Chicks would luv it I guess, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one. Uh.. ah no way Jose. The ear-loop thingy looks like its made of some brittle plastic, not those that you can "bend and flex all you want" rubbery kind. The promoter was quick to point out to me that it comes with several spares. Btw there are different loops for both your left and right ear. Nokia somehow has been dragging their feet at bringing out Bluetooth devices. If you look at their phone lineups, only a couple of models have Bluetooth. Infact this is Nokia's first headset to be marketed. Their first headset HDW-1 was no where to be seen.
I still haven't had the chance to touch and feel Sony Ericsson's new headset, the HBH-60. The looks are promising. At least the color is more tame and the boom, slimmer and shorter. Take a look at this and tell me if this is not so much better. So which one would you rather wear, darling?
Whoa...!!! whatever this is, I want one. Please? Pretty please? Alright folks, read all about it here but get in line will ya. I wanted one first okay! : )
Well as you can see in my wishlist, I like to have a new phone, preferably with some kind of a PDA function and if possible with a digicam. I know... I know, the quality not so good and besides I already have a 2 megapixel digicam that I carry around everywhere, but one more cannot die ma. Further more a phonecam is less conspicuous, if not scare away the butterfly ma ; )
I don't get to change phones often unlike most lucky Malaysians out there. My first cellphone was a Nokia 2110 and after using that for a good 4-5 years, only did I changed to my current 8210. I'm still pretty happy with mine (aye, 2k spend already must use it till it konked-la) but I do wish for newer features like polyphonic ring tones, color screens, cams, MMS, GPRS, bluetooth, tri-band, PDA functions with a touch screen and if possible, something that can use WAV files for ringing tones. Not that I really need them features since most of them, I either won't be using or my network provider have not started such services yet.
Since I don't really need a new phone, I'm willing to wait for something different. My ideal phone would be something without a keyboard, it would have a big touch screen instead. It must be tri-band, GPRS for good measure, hopefully with bluetooth build-in but I dunno, wearing one of those bluetooth headset seems a little too geeky for me. I think I want it to be "more phone" than PDA. The O2 XDA would be considered "more PDA" and less phone to me. Let's see what else...hmmm...
My bro-in-law AK has been telling me about the new Palm Tungsten W and Handspring Treo 270. Then there is the Samsung SGH-i500 ...so many choices, so little money...Oh! Almost forgotten about Sony Ericsson's P800 which I like, but somehow it looks too toyish and the color doesn't help either. Hey, but at least it can use WAV files for ring tones. And the graphics is really sharp. I think this model can be improve upon and who knows, the second generation of this model may be that phone Im looking for.
I like Nokia stuff but lately they haven't come out with anything interesting (at least not to me). I was at Mid Valley over the weekend and Nokia was running some roadshow promoting their new phonecams....but all also not what I really wanted. The new 72xxand 66xx series phones are pretty much all the same except for the design and whether or not it has a build-in camera. Nothing really oommphh...know what I mean? The design nowadays kinda suck too. It's a bit of trying too hard to be fancy. I noticed that the 7650 was not even shown that day.
Maybe this Neonode N1 can come close to being my ideal phone. Just have to wait and see. Good things comes to those who waits. At least that's how I'm consoling myself.
I've been checking out the Apples lately (see my log SD20030414). Been looking at their laptops, desktops and MP3 players. One word comes to mind whenever I go near an Apple - beautiful, just beautiful.....
First, a little history. My very first computer was a Macintosh (ok, before that I had an Atari, if you count that as a real computer). Yup, THE original 128K Macintosh. The first computer to use a 3.5 inch floppy. I was gonna say the first computer to use a GUI (Graphical User Interface) but nope, that title went to Lisa, another Apple computer. But it was the very first most widely distributed, GUI based computer. Apple were also the first computers to employ a mouse (hehehe...no pun intented).
By today's standard, the Macintoshes would not have enough power to do anything but maybe control some of today's rice cookers. Lol..maybe not even that. You see, it only had a mere 128K of memory, one 3.5 inch floppy, no harddisk, and using only a Motorola 68000 MPU...which I think is around 8MHz. And for all this, I paid around USD$2.5k for it, back in 1984. Crazy huh? Still I love it and have fond memories of it. It turned me into a Mac evangelist. I think all Mac owners became evangelists.
It changed the face of computing forever. It revolutionize the way we use computers till this very day. It was the "computer for the rest of us". It was something ahead of it's time. You see, back in those days computers didn't have little icons that you can drag around. Remember CP/M or even DOS? We have to type every command to tell it what to do. By having a graphical interface, using computers became much more simpler. Where do you think Microsoft got the idea from? How do you think Windows came about? Ok, so they both (Apple and Microsoft) stole it from Xerox but that's a story for another day.
Apples and Oranges Windows...
Enough history. So how is Apple today? Will I buy one today? What do I think of it now? Let me tell ya, I do want one but.....uh oh...did I say "but"??? Well, I'm currently using Windows so I will be comparing it with Window based PCs. Sure it's still beautiful as always and oh so kewl. I like the way the little Apple logo on their PowerBooks actually lights up. I love their widescreen LCD monitors. I like the ingenious neck mounting on the iMacs that glides the screen around so effortlessly. And last but not least, gotta love those cute little iPODs. But?
But the fact is that the rest of the World runs on Wintel (Windows/Intel). Or should I say, Wintel runs the World? No matter how you look at it, using a "minority" platform will always give you some incompatibility problems. Some missing features here and there doesn't help either. For example, Apples don't have scrolling wheels on their mouse. The right click function is missing too. And many other little reasons. I can't help it, I have to conform with the rest of the World and I can't do that with an Apple.
Of course, I still like to own one, just for nostalgia sake perhaps. Unless I make mega-bucks like my friend Malinda (I'm mentioning her name here so she would read my blog...hehe), or have my own name plate on some door, I won't be buying one very soon. However I am willing to be a born-again Apple evangelist and I am willing to be converted from the Dark Side if someone out there should send me a free PowerBook or even an iBook ; ))
Some guy from Telekom finally came this morning. He told me that my line is okay and proceeded to check my house phone - nope still no dial tone. He tested it a bit more at the junction box (outside my apartment) and sure enough, the dial tone is there at the junction box but it's not going into my apartment. He said that the wire from the box to my apartment must have been broken and needs to be re-wired. There was nothing I could do.
I got from him a phone number to call, supposedly some wiring contractor since Telekom don't do these things themselves. Made an appointment for him to come over but I got tired of waiting and decided to call my own wiring person, this other guy did my extension previously so I decided to call him instead.
He came, and checked the wirings and he too thinks my wire is broken somewhere in the middle. Only way out was to pull a new cable from the junction box to my apartment. He double check the wirings at the junction box again and found a pair of wires just left hanging there.- Somehow he has a hunch that this pair of wires belongs to me and not the ones currently already hooked up. Guess what? He was right. He put them back and viola it worked!
Oh no...and that's not all, there's more! Before my wiring contractor came, my neighbour complained to me that her phone is out as well, right around 11am, just about the same time that the Telekom guy was here doing his stuff. I got my contractor to check her wirings and well you guessed it, one wire was disconnected and the other was at the wrong terminal. Put them back and my neighbour's phone started working again!
Ok what do you people think? Is Telekom technician out to cheat us? There is no way that anyone could have disconnected my wires, ok yes, it could have come off loose but another wire in it's place? Highly unlikely, make that next to impossible! And the junction box is under locked and key so only the management and Telekom people has access to it.
My wiring guy told me he has seen worse cases, like cables been cut clean. Then they would charge the unsuspecting victim about RM400 to redo the wiring. Anyway I'm glad that's over now and can only hope they don't do worse the next time around. My wiring guy asked only RM20 for the service rendered and I offered him an extra RM10 but he refused. Wish everyone is as honest and has this level of integrity *sigh*
My phone line went dead on Friday nite and that means for me a communication black-out to the cyber world. Im not sure why, but my phone line seems to fail every few months. Infact, the most recent downtime was only last week. But it was only down for less than 24 hours. This weekend, I was not so lucky.
Since it happened on a Friday nite, I was only able to call them on Saturday morning and Saturday been a half-day, I didn't expect service till Monday. Sure enough, Telekom did not fail me in this respect, nobody showed up and nobody called. In a way, I'm kinda surprised that they didn't even gave me a buzz. I know it's hard to believe but my experience with Telekom lately, leads me to believe that they had actually improved, somewhat. They will usually call you up within hours of a report, but of course, the fixing part may take much longer. Sometimes they will even call a few times (hehehe...because I reported a few times ma, for good measure).
For the past two days, I couldn't function. With no Internet connection, I couldn't blog, surf, or do emails. The funny thing is, on weekends, I usually don't spend half as much time on the Net then on during the weekdays. Still it bothered me. I was going stir-crazy, confined to my brick and mortar world.
These are the times I wish I own a laptop. I could park next to some branded coffeeshop and check on my email wirelessly. Hmmm...maybe I should put that on my wishlist. But for now, I made do by stealing some online time at two Apple Centers located at Mid Valley and Great Eastern Mall. It was perfect, I got to check out the Apples and checked on my emails. OK, I was desperate.
You know whats the latest trend today? Blogging - that's what! Yup, netizens all over are either reading other people's blog, or they are blogging for other people to read, or both.
So what's my excuse? People have, I have ma. People blog, I blog-lor ; )
For a long time now, I wanted to keep my own weblog but just couldn't figure out what to write about. Content is King on the World Wide Web they say so I wanted to make sure my content would be something fun, interesting, and sustainable both for myself and other lifeforms out there. That's the hard part, figuring out what to blog about.
Then one day (a week ago), by chance I came upon "Digital Fugue" and suddenly everything seems to fall into place. I like his choice of almost everything - template, format, colors, etc and most importantly, it gave me the idea just what my blog would be all about. And for this, I want to say thank you KaZ for your blog which inspired me to do mine! : )
This blog will mostly be about today's digital lifestyle, it's technology, it's gadget, it's uses, it's problems, it's costs. No, it wont be written in a technical manner so don't worry about it looking a little geeky. It's about wanting it, reading about it, dreaming it, acquiring it, paying for it, using it, frustrating over it, etc...etc. It won't be only me talking about my toys but hopefully you, yes all YOU out there, will join in and tell me about your gadgets, your wishlists, your frustrations, etc, as well. Heck, I'm always discussing about these things with my friends and relatives anyway... (ok, actually only one relative and two friends - you know who you are fellas...hehehe) ....so why not do it on a bigger scale - ramble about it online to millions and millions (yea rite) of eye balls. It has always been fun talking about these things and hopefully the fun will rub off here too.
Here are all my current events. The movies I plan
to watch, games I'm playing now, my mood, and most importantly, which
toy will be my next target. I also added my fav quote of the day in
this section so hope you will like that.
These are stuff which I already have. I put them here to encourage
feedback or questions, eg. if anyone should want to buy similar products,
they can ask me about them. You can even recommend me a newer and better choice.
I put my long term wishlist here and also stuff I wish to get rid
of. There is an old Chinese saying, "if old things don't go, new things
won't come" (ok so I made that up). With that in mind, I'm always
selling some old things so keep a lookout. You will find this list
ever changing as my needs and desires changes as time goes by. Hmmm..I
wonder when can I fulfill my wish for Satomi leh? Or should I say,
when can Satomi fulfill me?
But now I've got an answer to your problem. This here is the new Panasonic Secure Digital to Compact Flash adapter that will do just what you want - simply turn your SD into CF size (Type I) cards. You can now use your SD cards in your CF enabled camera, take a picture and immediately view them in your SD enabled PDA, projector, etc. This also means you can use your SD cards with more devices without having to buy additional different formats.You can also use this adapter in conjunction with a CF to PCMCIA adapter so that now your laptop can use SD cards as well.
This is Nokia's new wired wireless headset Huh? Say that again...
The moment I had the F505 in my hands, I immediately realized it's potential First of all, it felt very natural. Cradling the lens barrel with my left hand, my right hand was used twisting the camera's body to which ever angle I wanted. I no longer had to bring the camera to my face. I can hold the camera at waist height, ending the need to kneel down for a lower angle shot. I can shoot overhead. You name it, it all can be done with ease. I cannot articulate enough for you to fully understand it's usefulness until you yourself have tried it.
Come ah, come ah, mari-mari...gather around. See no buy also can. Today's special offer - one unit brand new Sony Infrared Headphones for cheap sale. Unit still unopened. Can connect to TeeV, steleo, poketpc, brand new Zire 71, PC, Xbox, PS2, MP3 player, airpod, mini-Disc etc, etc and listen-in all without wires.
1. Built-in Hidden Camera
I have been wanting one of these for a long time now but high prices and my own indecisiveness on which model to get, delayed my purchase until now.
The first thing that caught my eye when I saw some pictures of the T610 was how clean the design was. Almost Zen like. What can I say, it looks like a damn phone for once. No funny looking buttons or shapes here, infact it look rather bland and boxy even. Somehow I love it. It's so minimalist as compared to the design of other phones lately. And it has a touch of class as the T610 body is clad with an aluminium casing. Hmmm... can't wait to touch that. Btw the sides of the phone are concave for better hold. Now that's a nice touch and adds to the appealing design. And for the first time, we know the name of the designer - Erik Ahlgren.
Of course, some games are included and you can download more as they come along. I'm not a big fan of phone based games so let's move on. What else leh? Oh, it does has some PIM functions, you know, the usual calender, calculator, etc, etc. It has voice dialling and voice command but no speakerphone, which I admit, is a great feature on the Nokia's 72xx. As you can see in the pic, it also has a little joystick to mouse around.
These days you will find PDAs with loads of features. Some comes with integrated cameras, some can play MP3, others have built-in phone for GSM/GPRS connectivity. Some devices comes with Bluetooth and the latest ones even have Wi-Fi. But there is none that incorporates all them features into one device. And that is what we all want even though most of us would not use all the capabilities or even understand most of the technology, for that matter.
The Palm Tungsten W is finally here at local stores and I was trying to get the feel of one today. If you notice, I like to hold and touch a new gadget to get a feel of it to see if it's for me or not. Not only has it got to be functional but the aesthetics matters a great deal to me as well. Anyway, the first store I visited, some other customer was looking at the Tungsten W and after like half an hour of waiting for my turn, he was still at it. Grrr...just buy the damn thing already and let me have a go! In the end, I gave up.
This dashboard is so beautiful. I wish I have a bigger picture to put on here. The automatic gear shift is located at the steering column leaving an empty space on the floor for you to easily scoop to the passenger side and vice versa.
During the Nokia roadshow, I had the opportunity to touch and handle the new Nokia Bluetooth headset HDW-2. It was going for a "promotional price" of RM599. Kinda look like a bug don't it? Or maybe even a big gold earring? Chicks would luv it I guess, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one. Uh.. ah no way Jose. The ear-loop thingy looks like its made of some brittle plastic, not those that you can "bend and flex all you want" rubbery kind. The promoter was quick to point out to me that it comes with several spares. Btw there are different loops for both your left and right ear. Nokia somehow has been dragging their feet at bringing out Bluetooth devices. If you look at their phone lineups, only a couple of models have Bluetooth. Infact this is Nokia's first headset to be marketed. Their first headset HDW-1 was no where to be seen.
Whoa...!!! whatever this is, I want one. Please? Pretty please? Alright folks, read all about it 
